Great Reviews for Home

Some great new reviews are coming in for Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies:

From Kirkus -- "Eleven-year-old Whitney, aka Termite, arrives at her 12th foster home, in remote Forest Glen, prepared for the worst. Termite soon discovers that foster children are a cottage industry in this logging town where layoffs have meant psychological as well as economic depression for the loggers. Termite might be the loudest of the band of fosters at Forest Glen Elementary, but she is by no means the most eccentric. From this ragtag band, Termite fashions a cohesive mutual support group and, with her foster brother as an unlikely ally, goes head to head with the newly re-hired loggers who want to cut down an aged redwood lovingly known as Big Momma. A sweet, spirited tale told with warmth and humor about a determined misfit who finds a home at last in a family and a community."

From VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) -- Sixth grader Whitney is heading out to her twelfth foster home-this time in the middle of nowhere. Born with a heart condition and ADHD, she knows that she is a handful and that this one will end up to be just one more place where other people belong. She just wishes that stupid feeling would not slip in at the worst possible moment-the one that makes her hope that this family will be the one "down on their knees, praying night and day about having a superfunny, hyper, loudmouthed, messy, small-for-her-age foster kid." Needing to squash that idea down before it gets out of hand, Whitney makes sure that she gets noticed on her own terms before anyone gets any ideas about who she is or what she needs. What she does not count on is a school where half the students are fosters in a broken-down town torn between the logging industry and the environmentalists. Finding a hidden nature girl under her city background, Whitney makes a stand for her beliefs and rallies the support of some surprising allies along the way. Written with humor and sensitivity, this book from the author of a 2005 Perfect Ten novel, What I Call Life (Henry Holt, 2005/VOYA December 2005), tackles issues from fitting in with family and friends to getting through school to making a difference in the community. There is no preaching here, just honest to goodness situational humor perfect for starting a discussion on environmental topics. It might just encourage youth to find ways to stand out while fitting in. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9).